英译汉One small step back to where we started2Politically,too,there was a shift.The Earth from space looks just like a map — except without the national borders.Collins remembers people of every nation saying to him,“ ‘We did it’ — it was a wonderful thing.” Ed Mitchell,on his way back from the Moon,realised that “the molecules of my body and of the spacecraft and of my partners were manufactured in some ancient generation of stars —and that was an overw

英译汉One small step back to where we started2
Politically,too,there was a shift.The Earth from space looks just like a map — except without the national borders.Collins remembers people of every nation saying to him,“ ‘We did it’ — it was a wonderful thing.” Ed Mitchell,on his way back from the Moon,realised that “the molecules of my body and of the spacecraft and of my partners were manufactured in some ancient generation of stars —and that was an overwhelming sense of oneness and connectedness”.Inspired by the landings,René Dubos coined the phrase “Think globally,act locally”.T minus zero for Apollo was T plus one for globalization.
Yet despite the astronauts’ protestations that the Moon itself was a letdown,which of us,given the chance,wouldn’t want to go there?The Chinese are planning missions of their own,and the commercial investment being ploughed into space tourism proves just how much we yearn for new experiences.So much so that we resent anyone who dampens our excitement.
Pete Conrad used to say he was prouder of his work on the Skylab missions than his walk on the Moon.“Some people even get mad,” he said.“‘What do you mean,the Moon isn’t the biggest thing in your life?’ I say:‘Why?I’m the guy that did this’,” Maybe life is one long “wet paint” sign:you don’t believe it until you reach out and touch.
Certainly,Dave Scott,of Apollo 15,thought so.Standing on the Moon,he voiced his thoughts to Houston:“I realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature:man must explore.” Home is never far from our thoughts,though.How many times have you looked forward for months to a holiday,only to find that on day three you’re already dreaming of your own bed?But when you return,the process starts all over again.This idea of life as a perpetual cycle seems particularly comforting in a recession.Even though we’ve overreached (and overborrowed),and been reminded of some home truths,we know that one day we’ll reach out once more.
When Bean retired from Nasa he became an artist.His paintings of the lunar landscape,which fetch tens of thousands of dollars,bear the lessons of his time as an astronaut.Just as he worked hard to reach the Moon,now he works hard to perfect his painting.“That’s what I tell myself when the colours don’t come out right or it hasn’t worked like I thought it would:‘That’s why they call it art’.”
Another of Bean’s thoughts sums up the very essence of the Apollo missions,indeed of all human travel:that it isn’t about where you’re going,it’s about who you are.“Everybody came back just more like I knew them.I thing maybe success doesn’t change you as much as reveal you.”
Which is why the greatest reason to celebrate this 40th anniversary isn’t scientific or environmental or political; it’s personal.The next time you go down a footpath just to see where it leads,or when the only thing that will stop your baby crying is taking it for a drive,remember the 12men who stood on the Moon and looked at Earth.As T.S.Eliot put it:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.